


On Top of the World

by ti99ck4



Series: Something Like Drowning!Verse [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Domestic Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, One Shot, Reunions, Short & Sweet, Stanford Era (Supernatural), Stanford Student Sam Winchester, Young Sam Winchester, no beta we die like cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:40:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27665543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ti99ck4/pseuds/ti99ck4
Summary: Sammy opens the door, and Dean feels like he's on top of the world.-Or what happens after Dean shows up at Stanford.-Part Three of Something Like Drowning! Verse (read the other works first lol)
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester
Series: Something Like Drowning!Verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922833
Comments: 25
Kudos: 297





	On Top of the World

Sammy opens the door and Dean feels like he’s on top of the world.

He looks older, more mature maybe, but something about him is still perfectly Sam. Sam with the long hair. Sam with the big puppy dog eyes. Sam who’s his dorky little brother and always will be.

Dean’s sure Sam knows it’s really him when he pulls him into a tight hug and he can feel himself grinning ear to ear. Cas and Claire are by his side and Sam is standing in front of him and he feels a missing part of himself move back into place.

Dean introduces Cas as his boyfriend, his  _ boyfriend _ and damn that feels good. He isn’t quite sure how to introduce Claire because she’s not actually his daughter but at the same time she kind of is and he isn’t quite sure how  _ she _ feels about all this so he introduces her as just Claire.

  
Claire tells Sam that he’s shorter than Dean described and he just gestures to her with mock incredulity.

Sam looks absolutely stunned, but he tells them that it’s nice to meet them and Dean can tell he means it. He invites them in and tells them to make themselves at home while he texts his girlfriend, Jessica. There’s a picture of them on the mantle of their faux fireplace and Dean thinks she looks like a nice girl. He’s glad to be in his brother's life again and wants to meet her.

Sam sits across from them at the kitchen table and the look of wonder never leaves his face. He tells Dean that he, Dad and Bobby thought he was dead and held a funeral for him. He tells him that he’s been saving up to hire someone to find Dean’s things because they never knew where he was “killed”. Dean grimaces and tells him that’s not necessary, that the man in the photos was some random civilian and  _ he _ was the one who mailed them to Bobby. He tells Sam that he did it to keep him safe, and he knows that it hurt but he isn’t sorry for doing what he had to.

Sam tells him he doesn’t understand and he probably never will, but he’s glad to have Dean back. He asks them how long they’re staying in town, and Dean tells him only two days because the drive is too long for them to stay any longer and he and Cas have to get back to work.

Sam is surprised, asks him if he’s stopped hunting and Dean tells him he has. He keeps tabs on hunters and gives them advice, but he doesn’t do field work anymore. He’s taking the same gig that Bobby’s got and giving himself a longer lifespan.

Sam tells them that Jess will be home in just a few minutes, and the five of them can go out for dinner, if they’d like and Dean agrees.

He’s excited to be back in the land of the living.

\--------------

Jess is a wonderful person and Dean’s glad Sam’s with her.

She tells him how glad she is to finally meet him and asks Claire what kinds of things she’s interested in while Sam, Dean and Cas pick somewhere to go for dinner. They decide on the restaurant that Sam _works_ _at_ , because apparently that’s something he does now and, hey, they get a discount so that sounds good too.

They all pile into the Impala and drive down to the restaurant because Dean wouldn’t be caught dead riding in anything but his Baby. Cas sits in the back seat with Claire and Jess and lets Sam sit shotgun because he knows that Dean has missed his brother and this is the first time they’ve been together in what feels like forever.

Dean loves him so much that it hurts.

\-------------

The restaurant is nice, and the people working there  _ love _ Sam.

They call him “Chief” because apparently he’s the  _ manager _ and sure to anyone else that might not look like much but, damn, Dean is proud of him. 

They’re seated at a table way off in the corner of the room away from the crowds because it's obvious that whatever’s going on is important to Sam and the people here are his friends. The place is nice, if not a little outdated but it’s obvious that Sammy runs a tight ship and he enjoys his job.

Dean’s looking over the menu and Claire informs them all that she’s going to get chicken strips and french fries. He asks what she’s gonna have to drink and she says she wants soda, but none of that “diet stuff” that Cas likes.

Cas chastises her and suggests that she get a vegetable with her dinner if she’s going to have soda. Claire tells him that  _ ketchup _ is a vegetable because it has tomatoes in it and when Cas asks Dean if that’s true he says yes. Dean orders Claire a side of carrot sticks when Cas gives him a stern look as the waitress walks up.

They’re waiting for their food and Sam asks where they’re living and Dean tells him about Georgia and about their apartment and how they drive out to Atlanta on their days off to go on the ferris wheel above Centennial park and explore the city. Sam asks if they’d like to go to the beach tomorrow, because it's August and in California the heat lasts all the way through to  _ October _ . Dean says that’d be fun, because none of them have ever been to a beach on the west coast and he thinks it’d be nice to just sit in the sun with his toes in the sand. He tells Sam that they’ll pick him and Jess up in the morning and they can take the half our drive out to the beach together.

Sam says that he wants to go into  _ law _ and Dean can’t say he’s surprised. Sam’s always wanted to help people, he just never wanted to hunt. Dean thinks that Sammy’ll make a great lawyer, and he tells him so. He asks if he’s going to go to law school at Stanford or if he’s going to go somewhere else and Sam tells him that he likes Palo Alto a lot and he wants to stay here.

The waitress brings out their food, and Dean is just about to take a bite of his burger when someone next to him clears their throat. Dean just rolls his eyes because he’d recognize that stupid son of a bitch anywhere and he’s really not in the mood to be conversing with demons at the moment,

“Crowley.”

“Squirrel.”

Cas is fed up, too. His voice is cold and he asks Crowley what he wants and why he's here because, clearly, they’re in the middle of something important.

“Because,” Crowley shrugs, “ a little birdy told me that  _ you _ left home and hightailed it all the way across the country for a family reunion… isn’t that funny? Just wanted to make sure everything was ship shape, boys.”

“You know each other?” Jess asks with a smile.

“Colleagues.” Dean answers flatly, and at the same time Crowley says, “Friends. Besties, actually.”

Claire laughs and Dean scowls at her before turning back to him, “You couldn’t just send one of your  _ minions _ to look from afar?”

“Figured I’d check this thing out myself.” he winks, “Can’t have someone as dangerous as  _ Dean Winchester _ running around unchecked, can we? I’ll be seeing you, Squirrel.”

He turns towards Cas, “Feathers.”

He looks over Claire, Sam and Jess, “ _ Normals _ .” and then he’s walking away, calling out a final “Ciao” over his shoulder and he’s out the door.

Dean’s ninety percent sure that Jess thinks he’s ex-mafia or something and almost laughs.

\-------------

They pick Sam and Jess up at ten in the morning outside of their apartment.

Baby’s trunk is filled with lawn chairs and umbrellas and a cooler full of snacks. Claire’s got a giant beach ball that Dean knows is going to be hell to blow up when they actually get to their destination, but right now he's feeling really good.

Dean’s tapes are playing through Baby’s speaker and, yeah Sam, he  _ does _ still use tapes, thank you very much.

Dean finds the perfect parking spot and Baby is facing right out towards the ocean. Sam and Jess are the ones that set up the chairs and umbrellas because Cas and Dean are trying their best to convince a skeptic Claire that she really should be wearing sunscreen.

She finally caves, and Dean realizes he’s still wearing his shirt. He feels very sheepish all of a sudden because the scars aren’t pretty at all. He knows he should probably be proud of them, because they’re a sign that he survived or whatever, but all he sees when he looks at them is a reminder that he not only nearly lost his life, but he also lost the first twenty two years of his existence to an apocalypse and a story that was billions of years in the making. They upset Cas too, because they’re a reminder that he couldn’t heal Dean enough to get rid of them, that if something like that were to happen again he’d be powerless to stop it. Dean’s never been self-conscious about his looks, but they’re big and ugly and they rake across his entire chest, back and thighs. They make people ask questions and they always seem to pity him.

He doesn’t want Sam to pity or patronize him or think he’s weak. He doesn’t want things to change, because he knows that they will. Sam will ask him how it happened and will treat Dean differently because of what he’s been through and-

Cas squeezes his hand and smiles at him as if even without his angel mojo, he knows exactly what Dean is thinking. Dean squeezes his hand back and knows everything is going to be okay.

He takes off his shirt, balling it up and tossing it towards the rest of his things.

He knows people are staring, but right now he can’t find it in him to care.

\-------------

Sam doesn’t ask until later, when they’re driving back and the only people awake in the impala are him and Dean.

“How’d you get hurt?” he asks carefully, as if he isn’t sure whether Dean wants to answer or not.

“Hellhound.” he replies tiredly, “My last case, in Indiana, there was a demon trying to start the  _ apocalypse _ , man. Can you believe that? She set her demonic guard dog on me while I was pinned to a table.”

“Crap, dude, that’s…” Sam breathes out, “I’m sorry.”

Dean shrugs, “I survived and I’m here. ‘S good enough for me.”

“Still though.” Sam says, “That must’ve been one hell of a recovery.”

“Cas patched me up.” he smiles slightly, “Dude used to have some crazy powers… fixed the whole….”

He motions a hand around his chest

“...  _ that _ thing as best he could. He’s the best.”

“You really love him, huh?” Sam asks with a grin.

“Yeah... I do.”

\-------------

They leave the next morning, promises of future outings unspoken. Dean gives his new number to Sam and writes his address down too, in case he ever wants to visit. Sam thanks him through a foggy smile and Jess tells him how glad she was to meet him. 

Sam asks what he’s going to tell Dad and Dean just shrugs. He’ll figure that out later, once he’s come down from the high of seeing his brother again. Dad might not understand, but at least he’ll know he’s alive.

Dean climbs into the Impala, Cas and Claire engaged in another odd conversation, and with a final wave through the window, pulls out of the parking lot and down the street.

\-------------

Later, when the streetlights are flashing past the windshield and the only sounds he can hear are the low rumbles of Baby’s engine and the humming of classic rock from the radio, he’ll look around, smile to himself and think, yeah,

He’s on top of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Final part of the series (maybe?? idk do u guys want more?) anyways! I'm excited to be uploading again, took a very long break bc school has been absolutely kicking my ass!! anyways :) lmk if you guys want more ily all!!


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